Evidence of flat bands and correlated states in buckled graphene superlattices

Two-dimensional atomic crystals can radically change their properties in response to external influences, such as substrate orientation or strain, forming materials with novel electronic structure1–5. An example is the creation of weakly dispersive, ‘flat’ bands in bilayer graphene for certain ‘magic’ angles of twist between the orientations of the two layers6. The quenched kinetic energy in these flat bands promotes electron–electron interactions and facilitates the emergence of strongly correlated phases, such as superconductivity and correlated insulators. However, the very accurate fine-tuning required to obtain the magic angle in twisted-bilayer graphene poses challenges to fabrication and scalability. Here we present an alternative route to creating flat bands that does not involve fine-tuning. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, together with numerical simulations, we demonstrate that graphene monolayers placed on an atomically flat substrate can be forced to undergo a buckling transition7–9, resulting in a periodically modulated pseudo-magnetic field10–14, which in turn creates a ‘post-graphene’ material with flat electronic bands. When we introduce the Fermi level into these flat bands using electrostatic doping, we observe a pseudogap-like depletion in the density of states, which signals the emergence of a correlated state15–17. This buckling of two-dimensional crystals offers a strategy for creating other superlattice systems and, in particular, for exploring interaction phenomena characteristic of flat bands.